AN EVALUATION OF NATIONAL FOREST MANAGEMENT ACT ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES PERTAINING TO WILDLIFE

The National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA) requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare administrative regulations which set forth how each national forest implements, among other things, a number of prescribed policies for wildlife management. To this end regulations must consist of reasonably explicit performance standards. The objective of this dissertation is to determine if the regulations adequately guide the Forest Service in carrying out the intent of NFMA policies. Statutory language of the NFMA and related federal laws are analyzed to determine the extent of Forest Service authority pertaining to wildlife and to clearly define the policies that the regulations must address. As a result of this analysis, I have proposed that the NFMA wildlife regulations must address three subjects: (1) specific requirements of a number of federal statutes, including the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the NFMA; (2) certain ecological theories related to community and population ecology; and (3) wildlife management techniques applicable to management for community diversity and population persistence. These subjects are discussed and specific guidelines are developed for the purpose of evaluating the adequacy of the NFMA regulations. Each of the guidelines is examined in view of the regulation language. I conclude that the regulations provide adequate guidance to insure general consistency with federal policy but are deficient with respect to certain specific subjects. One particular area of deficiency is the failure of the regulations to specifically require use of wildlife population management techniques to attain legislative goals. Recommendations are suggested for amending the regulations and conducting further research.